ceased to be Protestant." The writer continues, "The mal ady that afflicts Protestant churches nowadays is called 'Palagianism'. Palagius, a fifth century theologian, taught that there is no original sin, man's will is wholly free, the race of God is not the only essential for salva tion and consequently man's lot presents no serious prob lem of redemption." More need not be said concerning the article referred to above and the rather keen insight that the author has shown about the condition of Protestantism in America to day. The situation he depicts must be considered from two points of view: (1) This is exactly what the Word of God says will be the condition at the end of the age. In second Timothy 3, beginning with verse 1, we read, "This know also that in the last days [of this dispensation] perilous times shall come. For men shall be. . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ;having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof"j in second Thessalonians, chapter 2, beginning with verse 1, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, [literally, 'The apostasy']." And, indeed, even when our Lord was here upon the earth, He explicitly stated that in the last days of this dispensation conditions would be as "it was in the days of Noah . . . as it was in the days of Lot . . . even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." And so, as Bible-believing Christians who are confidently looking for the soon return of our Lord, we rejoice in the development of every sign that points to His coming, knowing that our redemption draweth nigh. (2) But there is another point of view that we must also consider and that is the moral responsibility which is ours to warn unsaved people of the nearness of the Lord's return and to do everything possible to awaken ministers of the Gospel to their opportunities, indeed, to their re sponsibility of proclaiming the great truths of the Word of God in an effort to snatch, as it were, "brands from the burning." This is the reason that we as Christians are alarmed and are exceedingly distressed because of the ut ter lifelessness which characterizes Protestanism today so far as its vital convictions and testimony are con cerned. We confidently look for the Lord to come— and that right soon. Therefore it behooves us to be diligent about proclaiming the great fact of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Ministers and lay leaders alike must awake to the solemnity of this hour in which we live and revert to the strong, solid preaching and teaching of God's Holy Word in all of its beauty and power, likewise in all of its solemn warnings which are directed toward the lost. This is the day in which laymen should encourage their pastors to preach these great truths, including "hell fire and damnation" and that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way by which this terrible condition can be avoid ed. Such preaching is not at all popular. But, regardless of that, it is in the Word of God, and the faithful minister must proclaim the whole counsel of God. Such preaching often hurts, but it is the only kind of effective preach ing that will stir men to turn from the error and sin of their ways unto the Lord Jesus Whom to know is life eternal. President, The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc.
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7
MAY. 1961
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